how abt this? any takers?

GREENSPACE LOMOGRAPHY: CITY HUNT

Go beyond colour, identity, control, love, words and space and discover your ultimate greenspace! The Greenspace Lomography project challenges you to move beyond your comfort zone, and from the familiar places where your responses are automatic and surprises are seldom. With your favourite Lomo camera in tow, seek out the spontaneous and the undiscovered side of Singapore in true Amazing Race style.
Join us after that for a party at Asylum (Clarke Quay) at 8pm till 11pm, to celebrate the works from the City Hunt together with your friends! This party is open to the public.

Winners of the City Hunt stand to win attractive prizes, including a chance to win a round trip for 2 to Valencia, Spain complete with three nights’ accommodation. The complete work of all participants will be up on a Lomowall at the International Heineken Greenspace festival in Valencia from 24 – 29 Oct.
:: Date: Sept 10 (Sat)
:: Start time: 10am; End time: 2pm
:: Registration point: The Asylum (22, Ann Siang Road)
:: Registration: Participants need to email singapore@lomographyasia.com to pre-register. Pre-registrants will get priority to use our limited edition Greenspace Colorsplash cameras, on loan for the event. All film and materials are provided.

word of the day

how many words are there in the English language? Many hundreds and thousands and increasing every year as the English Oxford Directory updates its entries on an annual basis. Thinking that I would probably never learn all of it in a life time, but to remember the few new ones that I come across on a daily basis ; using them would help remembrance, hence my word of the day coloumn :-)

Today's new word for me, got it while reading an article that states that, "Holland is home to one of the more polyglot European populations" - because it is so common to find people who can speak a few languages ( how true this is? I know many Dutch people can all speak English pretty good.)

polyglot
adjective
1 a : speaking or writing several languages b : composed of numerous linguistic groups
2 : containing matter in several languages
3 : composed of elements from different languages
4 : being widely diverse (as in ethnic or cultural origins)

this word can be used as a noun as well-

1 : one who is polyglot

I wanna make a wish list too !!

keeping up with the spirits of things, I am gonna make a wish list too...

Dear Santa,

please gimme a nice man, Dutch and Asian -mixed blood (cos I dun go for purely ang moh guys haha) , who is going to sweep me off my feet in Rotterdam; is funny and makes me laugh so hard everyday that I got absolutely firm and fantabulous abs (laughing works the stomach muscles!); is smart and intelligent (gonna do my master thesis for me and score me a A!); is charming and smell of delectable aftershave and cologne; has good fashion sense; is kind and loves travelling, reading, writes poetry, plays the guitar and great conversations...

well well, at least my list seems more realistic eh? tee hee

Wish List For Christmas

1. Johnny Depp (Wonkalicious!)

2. Takuya Kimura (Don't understand a word of what you're saying, but who cares? )

3. That Gardener Guy (Jesse Metcafe) on Desperate Housewives. (The Tiger Woods of Gardening, Tiger made Golf sexy, Jesse made holding a spade an orgasmic experience for women)

4. Ashton Kulcher ( Date someone your own age... like me! I look 23 without plastic surgery! )

5. Harry Potter ( He's 16, brave, smart and endearing. And I'm NOT peadopilic)

6. Tony Leung Chiu Wai ( The Ultimate Casanova. )

7. Adrian Png (Humour is the way to the intelligent woman's.......think watever u want..hahaha)

I'll be really good, Santa. Can I Have my wish list pls?

walking stars

I have to take a long walk from the station to the office every morning ... most of the time, i'm running late so i would be busy pacing the people. But today, i woke up feeling very fresh and i have washed my hair in the morning so i really smell goody good haha ... then i decided, heck the morning meeting, i'm going to take a stroll, take my time ... walk slowly and watch the crowd zoom past me...

Some people walk and read, these are those who try hard to walk very fast and yet can't bear to put down their copy of "Today", thus they end up jamming the walkway or they are smart enough to stick to the side of the corridor. Some poor ladies obviously have problems with their shoes, sometimes i do as well... they try to walk very fast while maintaining their balance so so they end up dragging their feet, and sometimes it's a bit "penguin style" than grace...

Today I saw a classic case. This guy walking just in front of me... very big and tall ... he practically blocked my whole front view. Then I noticed sometime very cute about him... yup, he's trying to walk fast as well, and i think i could hear slight panting ... but above all these, he's got this rhythmic action of opening and closing his fingers, like what we do when we sang :twinkle twinkle little star " when we were kids.... so i named him the "Walking Star" today!

I have a bad memory today

there are certain days when i have super good memories, can even remember account numbers from back to front, the exact amount, down to the cents which i funded for... the stock prices which i traded.... i love the feeling when my boss ask me anything and i can remember...

but today, i think i woke up without my short term memory and my head hurts...oh..ok, i have forgot what i want to write... ok, forget it.

little things of life that make u happy and gay

there came a time when I thought of life as a journey and things happened for a reason.
it is the process of life that is most exciting to me, most dear and most grateful for. When things happen, i often find me asking myself, "now why did this had to happen? what shld I have learnt from this?"; it is almost an automatic reflex now. And thus for everything that happen, be it good or bad, i find that i cherish all my experiences because there is so much to learn from it abt urself, abt ur relationship with the people u have met in ur life, or just about life itself.

I find that there is no time to be upset, angry or unhappy for an extended period. Life is too short and too beautiful for that. Granted, we must have those moments when we can just let frustrations out, or just cry ourselves silly because our hearts have been broken. But at the end of the day, we must pick ourselves up quick cos there are lots more things in life to celebrate about then to cry over.

Today, I went out with my little sister, to buy her a fighting fish as a reward for having done so well in her science (second in class!). Quality time spent with her renewed my appreciation for having such a gem of a sister as her and not only that but a lovely and very supportive family. The innocent yet adult manner in which she conducts her conversation is ever so endearing that it cannot help but put a wide smile in my heart. Little things that make u happy and gay and life such a grand celebration. Here's to joie de vivre!

Which of the "i"s do you treasure most?

is it...

intelligent?
independent?
innovative?
involve?
interesting?
imaginative?
intriguing?
important?
impressive
ingenious?
irritaing?

today i am also a bimbo

being bored, i am gonna let u all know my list of things-to-do for tomorrow...

1. wake up
2. cleaning routine...zap those pimples!
3. maybe i can go for facial?!!!
4. meet dear friend for delicious salad during lunch.
5. maybe study my textbook for a while in the cafe (get back into the mood of being a student)
6. discover something nice abt the human race.
7. start writing something ( it always helps ... reminds me that i have got a soul and some possible depth beneath all my frivolous blog posts)
8. go get my creative mp3 fix...but thats all the way in Jurong East. (still i am glad that they won the patent case...at least for now)
9. oh ya...gym ( sound out my commitment to exe! haha)
10. meeting my wonderful wonderful friends for dinner and later on to balaclava...

today i decide to ..whine!

whine 1: I am getting bored...need party, music and drinks

whine 2: but realised that last wk i may have overdosed a bit on drinks...got a sore throat prob cos of too much alcohol dehydration

whine 3: getting fat from uncontrolled eating...time to hit the gym...

yes def need some happy hormones...

forgive me babes if you feel like knocking my head after reading my post...cos independent young modern women dun whine and they love their body for what it is...

but sometimes...

late night class 95 overdose

gosh, i know i should turn off the late night music from class 95...you know the romantic stuff... cos it is getting me into obsessive blogging mode.

Cheesy as it might be , I love romantic songs; simple songs telling of love found, love lost and love cherish. Most wonderful and gives me such a warm fuzzy feeling inside especially when i lie on my cosy bed with lights turn off. The air ard me seems to have become softer and the darkness so comfortable and warm.

Once as a idealistic young gal (yet sometimes i still am), I went looking for a fairy tale. I wanted the romance; the happy ever afters etc... think i watched one too many romance movies...Now i still believe in the happy ever after even if I think that fairy tales are not at all impt. Imperfection and being able to love the imperfect is what makes love perfect. Fairy tales speak of a perfect world and that is what I do not believe in. I want to stand by my loved one through thick and thin and watch love grow and still be there when the romance dims.

I believe in the perfect 10!

sudden outpourings from one who's soaking in beautiful music at late night

At the end of the day, it is not how much money or how successful we have become in our career; what matters most is the present, the moment and thus that is why I wish everyday and try to make each single day a happy one , not only for me but hopefully for the others ard me as well. Some unhappy stuff have happened a while before, and though i would rather things have turned out differently, i believe there is a plan for everyone- a journey unique for urself, to learn the things that you have to so that u may make the rest of ur journey as a better person, a stronger person and a more wonderful person.

I think you all my friends are each of strong beautiful personalities; everyone different from the others but similar on the point of a sort of inner strength in ourselves. No matter how many times life hit us, we bounce back in our own way, determine to make good.

Strength is not in how tough we look , talk or if we walk the talk. There is nothing attractive about a girl who tries too hard to be like a man. Women, celebrate our femininity. Be coy, be sweet, be blushful, be a flirt!!! It is the inner strength that will make us glow from within.

Quidam

Quick all go and check your email.....accept it quick. I'm trying to win us some exclusive invites to the Cirque Du Soleil invites. Check it out. It's way cool!

Quidam opens in Singapore on September 8th! You and 5 friends could be treated like stars with Cirque du Soleil at a pre-show cocktail party and the exclusive Premiere show of Quidam! Each successful referral entitles you a chance to win!

Prize includes:
- You will be picked up by limo and taken to one of TONI & GUY HAIRDRESSING ’s exclusive salons.
- You will be made to look like a star, with make-up by Lancôme, hair styling by Toni & Guy and jewellery for the night by CITIGEMS.
- The limo will then take you to the pre-show cocktail party (at Scarlet Hotel!!) where you will be mingling with the stars in the exclusive TAPIS ROUGE VIP suite.
- You will then be escorted to a night of all nights – the Singapore Premiere of Quidam!
- After the show, you will be given access to the invite-only Premiere after-party (at Indochine!!!).

Hooked!

.... on some soppy taiwanese (i think) drama serial (love story) that my dear sisters let loose on me (read: 3 am nights dedicated to putting disc after disc into the player as if i am under some spell.... sub-consciously feeling guilty about that self-sustaining, ever-growing pile of work on my desk... yet helpless to do anything about it) ......

.... until something else hooked my attention - WHAT TANNED AND TONED BODY?!?!?!?

DID I HEAR "RIP OFF" ??!!?!?!? Make sure you tell us IN ADVANCE before that happens!!! otherwise that is the end of our friendship!!!!! GOOD THINGS MUST SHARE!!!

or at least make sure you take VERY GOOD photos!!!

muahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

a bet

I made a bet with Tatty last night; remember the guy who broke up with my sister and went back to the old GF... well they have been playin this break-and-patch game - for at least 4 times in a span of 6 months... she initiate and she initiate again, think she got a itchy butt.....so, it happened again last night and my bet's on him going back to her, time frame: till end of the month, stake: SGD50! treat u girls to shots if i win.. which i think i would. hee..hee.. call me evil or what :p

3 opposing things

Yes! your insurance agent is flirting with you outright! and No! You shouldn't add more riders to your insurance package, y let him earn so much when he's the one going ga-ga over u... hee, just make sure you'll never make him the bene ...Instead, u should squeeze the most out of him... errr.... but part from diaries and calendars, what can agents give... ?!?! Moral of the story: Fishy should stop flirting ard to avoid getting herself killed.

Claiming back SGD0.80 doesn't makes u petty, $ is $, why work for nothing? He's not someone you love enough to deliver a Kopi FOC! So moral of the story: Be the love one of Fishy and get a Kopi for free!

This 3rd thing is so contradicting to the previous one...petty vs generosity...so, in short moral of the 3rd story: Receive a sexy white shirt from Fishy and u are her implied loved one! ... u owe us an explanation on this one!

Hungry Ghosts' Festival

Da asked me, "Eh, where are all the Chinese Operas that used to be part of the typical Hungry Ghost Festival?" My answer to him was that the organising committee probably lacks money and hence, couldn't afford the performance. This is not surprising as I can hardly imagine people of our generation paying the same kind of regard to the Festival as our elders do. Would you for one actually pay subscription fees to go for the typical auction 10 course dinner (that would be attended by neighbours you might or might not know) with flamboyant Getai singers, watch some opera and bring home a red pail filled with canned food and sugarcane ? For the sake of preserving some heritage, I just might.

Anyway, that brings me to my next point, my personal topic of interest. Why the Hungry Ghost festival? Did it come about because it is a particular period where death rates tend to be higher than usual and hence is the explanation that people of the past have come up with ? Or is it a time for us to remember our ancestors?

And so I found, this Festival has emerged from a convergence of strains of Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist and traditional religious teachings.

For the Buddhist,

"every year on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, they should remember their parents and ancestors with piety and compassion, and repay their parents for their care and love by preparing a feast for offering to the Buddha and the monks."

For the Taoist,

" The ghostly aspect of the seventh month emerged from the Taoist concept of hell. Imprisoned in its lowest reaches, the ghosts may leave hell only with special permission of its king. This privilege would be granted only if the ghost receives no offerings to provide for its welfare, and therefore must return to the living to take what it can. The numbers permitted to leave are restricted.

The Taoist version favored the term P'u-tu, signifying a crossing over, or a general amnesty for the souls of the dead in hell. This amnesty commences on the first day and the ghosts look for whatever food they may find. On the fifteenth day, the feeding of the souls is attended to and each family offers a banquet for the ghosts. By the thirtieth day the ghosts must return to hell.


Afterlife
The seventh month festival serves two objects: ancestors and ghosts. To understand the heart of the festival it is important to observe how ghosts and ancestors have come to be distinguished and accordingly treated. The distinction has a Taoist influence.

During the Hungry Ghost Festival the living show their concern for the dead. The Chinese concept of death and life makes participation mandatory for filial children. This concept emerges from the Taoist philosophical development of yin and yang: two opposing forces of which everything is composed. Yin is the force of death and yang of life, and these elements are at work within individual persons. As a man ages, the yin increases at the expense of the yang, and death marks the total separation of the two. The soul, however, also contains elements of both yin and yang. The former is called kui (demon) and the latter shen (spirit). At death the kui should return to the earth and the shen persist in the grave, family shrine and the other world. If, however, one's soul is not properly cared for, it will persist as kui and cause problems for the living. In popular practice, the kui are considered hungry ghosts thus, clearly, one's ancestor could only be shen. Because both continue to exist and interfere, the living must respond accordingly.

Because ancestors persist after death as shen, the moral obligation to them never ceases. As all subordinates owe their elder kinsmen worship, respect and honor, this duty is passed down throughout the generations, with descendents accumulating more and more ancestors to worship. As the family line continues through the male, only-sons must maintain a strict worship lest the ancestors exist neglected.

While the needs of the ancestors are specifically addressed, the Chinese must remain conscious of the presence of the second object of the seventh month festival.

Who are the ghosts?
Several circumstances cause the kui to become dominant in one's soul, rendering him a hungry ghost. An improper burial, or none at all, is one factor. The burial represents the first stage in sending the ancestor to the underworld. If that task is left undone, the spirit is left homeless. Typically, this occurs when people are killed en mass, or executed, or die away from home and subsequently have been forgotten. Other spirits with descendents become ghosts because of anger. Perhaps they were violently murdered or unjustly executed and now long for vengeance.21

That some ghosts have descendants does create some problems: one's ancestor could be another's ghost. Wolf indicates that although most people would not admit that their ancestor could be a ghost to another, when hard pressed with examples many will admit the fact. Thus in some cases whether a spirit is a ghost or an ancestor depends very much upon one's perspective.

In other cases, the system of filial piety itself contributes to the creation of hungry ghosts. Because worship is restricted to a junior paying homage to a senior, parents would abandon a child's soul rather than worship him. Thus a child who dies has no one to assist him in the afterlife, leaving him homeless, hungry, a kui. To rationalize the child's birth, many believe that such children were strangers in the world of the living and therefore compelled to leave. Likewise, a deceased unmarried daughter may never be worshipped, for only the husband's line and his wives may receive this honor. A woman who dies before marriage is allocated the undignified position of a ghost.

As indicated above, in the Chinese spirit world there exists a large group of homeless and hungry souls, motivated by jealousy of the living, possibly of their own descendents or offspring who have homes, wealth and families, and therefore are the cause of most misfortunes. For that reason they are popularly perceived as spiritual beggars. The beggar is not conceived as lethargic and idle. Rather he represents a vagrant who, because of intense jealousy, attempts to take what belongs to others and willingly threatens and performs ill against his victims to satisfy his own desires. But by giving him something, he should leave one alone. Thus the intent of the Festival of Hungry Ghosts is not to honor but to propitiate the ghosts, lest they prey on the living and obstruct the peace of the ancestors. It is necessary to avoid offending the kui, hence ghosts are referred to as "the good brothers because they would be offended if you called them ghosts." A northern Taiwanese tradition epitomizes the connection. There, on the fifteenth day, the community prepares a huge feast. First the spirits are given opportunity to spiritually partake and then the meal is opened to the earthly beggars to physically eat the food.

As the ghosts could interfere with the ancestor festival, food must be prepared for them. But as it would be dangerous to allow a beggar into one's home, the same holds true for ghosts. So offerings are made on tables outside the home. Offerings usually consist of whole cooked fowl and large pieces of meat and delicacies. Other attractive items such as beer, cigarettes and washing implements are left out for the homeless ghosts to use. [this is really interesting yeah?]

Finally, I see some light.

So the next question is, tradition or superstitution? Guess it depends on whether we take the Buddhist or Taoist view. =p


- ANCESTORS AND GHOSTS: THE PHILOSOPHIC AND RELIGIOUS ORIGINS OF THE HUNGRY GHOST FESTIVAL. By Darren A. Bryant

east coast park

There is something lovely and sentimental about East Coast Park. Being there always brings back fond memories of secondary school days when there are never-ending invitations to chalets, kayaking and BBQ sessions. Especially at the moments nearing evening, the whiffs of grilled chicken wings and hot dogs makes u salivate unwittingly.

Sometimes when the " lets do some serious exercise feeling", I will pick up my bike and cycle all the way from home to east coast. It is a treacherous ride from my home fraught with small anit-cyclist pavements that force you at times to cycle on the busy roads and one particular part along upper east coast road where you have to carefully balance yourself to go through the teeniest space between a lamp post and some concert slab, not forgetting the many bus stops you have to cycle past and each time, I am praying that some alighting passenger or some oblivious person in the bus stop does not do a sudden swing at me coming from behind them. This is what stands between me and my beautiful, calm and lovely East Coast Park; the sea and her gentle embracing arms. I feel like a knight going through tumultuous journeys to go to my fair maiden in distress. Only I am a gal.

I love the sea, its calming rhythm. It seems to absorb all bad thoughts from me, leaving me only a nice comfy feeling that it is only good to be alive and enjoy the wonderful creations of nature. The endless stretch of water forming a horizon with the boundless sky.

So yup, today I did quite a bit of exe, soak up a bit of the good essence of the sea and sky and all ready and raring to go for the week. Have a great week ahead gals! and to fishy, all the best for your new job.

Asians in a Western world

"...questions remain about the sustainability of Asia's success....They cannot rely solely on favourable external developments or on Western ideas - though it is these, not Asian ones, that have driven Asia's growth. The economic principles of Asia's rise come from a Scot, Adam Smith. The political ideologies come from Western thinkers, from John Locke to Karl Marx. The international multilateral grid that served Asia well - including the U.N., WTO, IMF and World Bank- is essentially a Western creation. Asians have benefited enormously from being passengers on the Western globalisation bus.

Soon, they will help drive it. Asians cannot be free riders forever. Yet few Asians have given thought to how they will reshape the world order. The world is keen to learn what new responsibilities Asia will take on. So far, the region has remained silent. On the cultural front, too, Asian passivity is surprising. Bollywood, the sole major exception is growing in strength. But in virtually every other field, Asians have been consumers of Western cultural products, especially American ones....This distorts global perspectives. The world sees Asia through Western eyes. Asian have yet to explain themselves in their own terms to the rest of the world"

Kishore Mahbubani, " The Making of Modern Asia" in Time Aug 15-22, 2005
author of " Can Asians think?" a book I am reading now...fasinating read, very smart and insightful

Da ....Vinci Code and all that Incredibles and Ghandi

Happy Birthday dearest Gek!

Welcome to the age of empowerment my dearest friend! How do you feel about being 23 and thriving?

By the way, the Love Affair in the Mediterranean was truly sensational - all that lovely flower crabs, orgasmic salad, sensuous music, rich cheeses,chocolates and wines and not to forget the fantastic company. And yeah, did I mention the delicious Chef Tat's Seafood Bisque that's served by sexy miss waitress?

Thanks gek for hosting yet another fantastic dinner party. Thanks for having us. Muaks! Happy Birthday babe!

Anybody got fun pictures? Let's see some....

Hey Hey

After much vehement criticism from my dearest comrades, about my display of nonchalence towards the blog, I've decided to yield and blog some stuff about nothing and everything.

1. I broke my toothbrush while cleaning it. Don't ask me how. I just did. I have superhuman strength I guess. (Hint: dun trifle with me. unless you wanna end up like my tooth brush haha)

2. I met a ginger coloured cat that day and it was so pretty and cute. Did I mention the puss was a wuss too? Cos it ran away in fear when I approached it. Rejection always sucks, even when its from a cat.

3. I'm developing a tummy. Its not catastrophic, but its on my list of top 10 problems. ( yeah, I'm totally vain and shallow) So i've made a resolution to cut sugar from my diet. According to Jacelyn tay, the new guru on healthy living, that works. oh and to cut out alcohol too. Alcohol's a big no no. Stop poisoning your livers you ignorant alcoholics!

4. I cleaned my room. ( hooray!) So now, I'm hoping that it'll improve my feng shui, and good things will come my way soon. Threw away a shit load of junk. Like 5, 6 years of stuff. Feels good just throwing htings in the bin. Liberating would be the right word to use. Travelling light through life is a wise choice to make. Now I look at my empty shelves and feel so happy.

5. The number 5 is a prime number.

6. The number 6 is supposed to be the Devil's number. And if you pronounce it wrongly, it sounds like "sex".

7. Beckam's old number. For Harry potter Fans, its Lord Voldemort's fave number.

8. The Chinese Lurve this number. It means to strike rich. For me, it means 8 days, my fave mag. haha.

9. I hope you enjoyed the trivial about numbers which I mentioned in the past 8 points.

10. The perfect 10 doesn't exist. If you think it does, its an illusion and you're delusional. And probably depressed and unhappy, cos you're seeking the impossible.

Gothy Chic

I'm so excited about today, about all that goth but am still figuring how I should get those makeup on without looking too bruised. Laffs. Shall we have a best dressed prize? Bring your cameras guys. This looks like its gonna be the ultimate glam event of the year.

Can't wait!

Saturday Sensational Love Affair in the Mediterranean

Two more days to our much anticipated dinner date hosted by yours truly...

I am drooling already from that picture of creamy mustard coloured soup (seems cheeky has a penchant for putting up pictures in accompliant to her posts - must have been part of her presentation skills workshop training ;p) and the thoughts of chocolate cake from where ? awfully chocolate? - sounds like a big oxymoron...chocolate is never awful just terribly sinful...

oh thank you darling for thinking of that...then I should get some french vanilla ice-cream or the likes to compliment it. What say u?

Here's a little peep into the menu:

we are gonna have mussels, flower crabs (really delicious), lots of tapas ( creatively improvised by cheif moi), aglio Olio, sangria (the common - i will not say correct- way is really with dash of gin and some orange juice), proper wine, Ed's chocolate liqueur , gek's custom-made cheese platter sans blue cheese, Tat's seafood soup and maybe Chun's tiramisu(?) - all in the company of sexy bossanova and jazzy tunes and great friends!

Ciao Bella!

Sat!!!

Since Tat is going to cook his famous seafood soup so we are going to come as the macho chef and the sexy waitress .... wahahahaha! see u!

and gals... i'm going to get a chocolate cake from awfully chocolate!!! :)

cheerios,

looking forward to sat!

after a long day staring at the computer, finally with some time on my hand , to breathe a little freely, blog a little and listen to some nice music...ahhh

look forward to see u guys on sat...its gonna be a smash...simply because I am gonna have such good company like u gals and guys.

By the way: a little summary of our little costume party - who's going to wear what...

non-compliance = washing dishes...muahaha

Please protest if I got this half-completed list wrong else silence means consent.=p

Giselle n Ed = British Chic and Butler(?)
Jene n Qida = Gothic
Winnie n Tat =
Wanqing n Ed =
Chun = Bohemian
Gek = Cheerleader
Kenneth = Preppy (?)

Can’t remember what Winnie n Tat, Wan n Ed is going to come in. Fill us in ok? And sorry for my poor memory :-(

A digression here: dun u think the preppy look for guys is just so hot; 5 days a week I spend around the CBD area and all these guys in their nice smart looking shirts and ties plus spiky hair. Love especially those who can carry off their pink shirts. Drool factor - a sizzling ten!

the magic of Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory

Roald Dahl have special place in my childhood; alongside with Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew and yes i have to admit, Sweet Valley Twins... but Roald Dahl is way above them, top of the list, with wonderful quirky creations like Matilda with her supernatural powers; James and his bug pals living in a giant peach; witches that hate kids and wanna turn them into mice and of course not forgetting dear ole endearing Charlie and the mysterious Willy Wonka with all his wonderful candies. I never looked at candy in the same way after reading that book - what's with chewing gum that can taste like three meals, invisible chocolate to eat in class without your teacher knowing and gobstopper that will never finish. According to my dad, it was the first Roald Dahl book, he had us read at the very tender age of eight. No wonder I can be full of strange notions sometimes- the seed has been planted from young.

Watching the movie now would be like revisiting a very special part of my childhood, where I would be holed up on my bed, leaning against my cupboard sitting on the floor or even eating and reading his books at the same time. Those old feelings like familiar smells always bring a certain nostalgia, of a time from long ago. And big big plus point: Johnny Depp..!

I draw the pay of a temp worker

Just a recent revelation - i actually draw about $7 an hour until I pass the bar.

~Sigh~ at least the work is interesting... heh ;P

The week is gonna begin once again

I never thought that house-hunting could be so tedious. And long drawn-out. And so complicated.

I keep having this surreal feeling that I am growing up against my will, what with the talk about having to service a mortgage for the rest of my working life...*shudder* (or a good 10 years at least), or the sheer act of having to make a decision between a flat, a condo, a freehold, a leasehold, a new house, an old one, distance from town, budget..... balancing a million factors basically ... ... What a pain in the posterior.

Not that I am not happy house-hunting, mind you. I swear I will never get tired of looking at the splendidly done up showflats. They really give you the momentary hope that your house could look like that too (but then once you see how much it costs I bet it'd be a different story altogether).

House-hunting is just too tiring, with too many life-altering decisions to make for my comfort.

Well, on to happier thoughts. I went cycling in Pelangan, JB on friday with a bunch of friends from the bar course, and had some really fresh, cheap lobster ($5 for a mid sized one) and other assorted restaurant-ish foods. It was quite a workout - 12km from the bicycle kiosk to the restaurant, and another 12 km back. I almost couldn't feel my ass when I got back... it was numb for a while and ached like mad after. Oh, did I mention that I am officially 'chao tar'??? AND with sunglass marks to boot...~sigh~ Nonetheless... it is fun to travel all over for food... heh (what a pig).

National Day holiday is coming up soon! Whee! hahah... but next week is gonna be a pretty heavy week for me, so I'm really looking forward to Sat dinner!!! I will bring Bailey's! Get ready those glasses and coffee gals! Can't wait to see all of you!

Oh... is it gonna be an all-night thing? Or are we chionging? Need to prepare a movie or something? Bring change of clothes?

The mrt ride II

A guy stood up to give up this seat to an old man. The old man declined, saying that he's getting off the next stop. Both stood there motionless and embarrassed for a moment, not knowing what to say. A third man dashed out from nowhere, knocked the old man and sat down, grinning from ear to ear on his little "find". The two men then crossed each other, each exit from a different door at the next stop.

Won't it be better if they made a little conversation, or both of them laughed at the third man? Hahah, just a silly thought on the train.

i love my posse (II)

After getting a phone call from fishy, I cant help smiling...

where can u find such fun-loving, quirky bunch of friends with so many things up their sleeves to brighten ur day, prep u up and make u smile the whole day thru?

;-)

relativity

It was just last week when I was spending lots of time in the office. The few times I stopped to look at the watch was just to make sure time did not sneak past without me knowing. So I thought perhaps I am borned to work like a dog. To a perverse exent, I quite enjoy it.

Yet this week, things took a dramatic change. I found myself looking at the watch not in apprehension but in anticipation. It's the same work, same people, same place, so why the change?

Well, dearest da has come back !

Just for some updates, I actually kept in touch with the lady we met at Attica. Met her for lunch. She told me I was her lucky star cox she got something she really wanted today. I tried hard to contain the fact that today was my unlucky day cox a colleague has overwritten my file wrongly and I had to do extra work.

music for the late night

class 90.5 has such nice soul soothing music in these wee hours...

Europe, thy name is Cowardice

I found this article (July 30, 2005, Straits Times "Europe, thy name is Cowardice" By Mathias Dopfner) interesting, very controversial and disturbing how the writer reasoned away the virtues of tolerance in such a cold logical way.


"Rather than protect democracy in the Middle East, European appeasement, camouflaged behind the fuzzy word 'equidistance', often seems to countenance suicide bombings in Israel by fundamentalist Palestinians. Similarly, it generates a mentality that allows Europe to ignore the nearly 500,000 victims of Saddam Hussein's torture and murder machinery and, motivated by the self-righteousness of the peace movement, to harangue United States President George W. Bush as a warmonger."


The world is so much more than "free, open Western societies" and I am sure more research can find that Israelites commit just as much wrong to the Palestine and how about a mentality that allowed the American leaders to ignore all their atrocities in the Vietnam war or the 2 atomic bombs that they dropped killing thousands of Japanese?The issue here is not to dwell on the past but to see the past for what it is and learn from it..then perhaps the ugly side of history can not repeat itself, like how it always obstinately does in reality.

I am not taking sides; I think violence and war is just wrong whoever it is waged by; it is only values like tolerance and love and peace that will help make the world a better place and not more excuses justifying why a certain war must be waged for the so called good of the human race and most commonly touted - for the vague "free and open Western society" and the convenient excuse of democracy. I mean how it this western notion relevant for the other half the world that is just not western?

As a third-generation Singaporean, who have never experienced any of the hardships of war unlike our grandparents' generation, ranting on and on like an armchair critic, I cannot even begin to imagine what life must be like for the people on the other side of the world , and by that I do not mean the Americans or even the Europeans but the people in Iraq, Palestine...unwillingly players in global politics, suffering lost, hunger and devastation for some white man's dream of making the world a more democratic place.

Sometimes you wonder why these young chaps will strap a bomb around their bodies and to personally denote themselves? What goes through their mind at these last moments? What motivated them? One man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter. I think it is important to remember this fact, at least for myself, i think it is. I find it morally difficult to take any stand. I do not know if I should say who or what is right or wrong anymore...the world is just not simple as that. But then what if these bombings were to hit close to home? to someone that I know? I find it so draining just to try and figure out what it is I should really feel and think of these issues without being patronising, an armchair critic or a hypocrite? How also do we develop fair views given that our constant supply of news come mostly with a Western slant?


go read the article, will be nice to know ur views...though I cant put it up here for copyright reasons.

the MRT ride

today, I got off work at nearing the peak hours, lagging my bag and a very big and heavy laptop, I squeezed admist the working crowd , trying to claim a little piece of standing space in the MRT carriage. It is so interesting to watch the people in the train, coming from every different part of our society and being placed in the microcosm of a MRT train carriage. Everyone with their own life purpose and their own reasons why at this particular moment in life, we are in the MRT train.

Sometimes it takes a while to understand...

In the past whenever my friends comment that they would rather live in other countries then Singapore, I would always think secretly that, " these people don't have an idea how lucky they are, to call Singapore their home..." we are safe here, from natural disasters, have a high standard of living, modern, etc etc .... ok, u can call me patriotic, but I just think it's not right to abandon the society that moulds, educate and feeds you ...

But these few nights after I have just returned from Switzerland, I have been having some weird thoughts in my mind... and some feelings that I actually missed living in Switzerland. It's a big country, great culture, great people, super high standard of living, safe society, fresh air, lots of mountains, lots to lakes, rivers, super clear water that you can just jump into anytime... it's sometime like my hometown but lots more!! there's so so so much to do and see... and people really do have a life.... they don't work as hard as we do, ok, maybe that's something we can be proud of; but they spend lots of quality time with their loved ones and themselves! Traveling within the country itself alone is sufficient to fill your itinerary for the whole year or more!

Ok, i did not understand why some wants so badly to leave this small island and seek better pastures elsewhere ... but now I do... and it has certainly planted a little thought in my mind...

a story...continue it if u would

Nats sits quietly in the back seat of the car. It is raining, like always at this time of the year. The November rain trickles down the car window. She traces their movement with her long fair fingers and pulls her jacket closer to herself. A nice hot chocolate by a fireplace would be a splendid idea now -- and throw in a couple of fresh white marshmallows. Marshmallows. She loved watching those bounce carefreely about the warm pool of dark chocolate milk. And finally when they are done with their cheerful dances, and if you have had not already slurp down the whole cup of delicious warm liquid, sink down the chocolate pool in a triumphant finale.

She is in a pensive mood; about what she does not know, not yet at least...

Money plant

I got my little money plant back today; my boss took care of it during my absence... it's growing and Growing and GREW!! the stems and leaves are extending so fast that soon it will cover the whole of my shelf-top ... good, i like it =) at least they are call "money" plant!

Moral of the story: grow a plant today, make your office green :)

passion for your work

I am up reading the clauses of what forms the BIMCO Standard Crew Management Agreements and to my surprise it was not as boring an affair as I thought it will be. But no, this post is not to celebrate my passion for reading these clauses...don't worry dear friends, I have bigger passions then these. =)

A few post back, I said I will write something about my trip on board the vessel. Well basically, I wore one of those safety helmets, venture up the gangway, got myself on board one of the most high tech vessels around, drank free coke from the crewmess, hanged around talking to the Brazilian captain and oogle at the fancy controls on the bridge.

The thing that striked me most about this trip was that of a fellow colleague, usually so reserved and quiet became so chatty and eager to tell me things about the ship - showing me pictures and explaining the nitty gritty of the vessel. His passion and knowledge just took my breathe away.

There is something so wonderful about seeing someone passionate about something. It moves you and makes you want to be part of it. It inspire you to something more. Whether it is hearing damselfish saying that she looks forward to work everyday because she love her job; when fishy speaks of books and poetry that she simply adores; when sha and ed are together or when puffy dances on the stage...

tradition

Recently, I have gone to two different funerals and I realised that there's actually a lot of customs that have to be adhered to depending on your dialect/family tradition. While I am acutely aware of my lack of understanding about these customs, I did not feel the impulse to go learn about all the different intricacies, unlike how I would love to do so when it comes to things like weddings.

Talking about weddings, today I went for my cousin's engagment, which is called "da bua" in Hokkien or "luck cai" in some other dialect and this is also known as "gou da li" in Chinese. It was very interesting to hear the bevy of mothers sharing their experiences or knowledge about the different customs of the different dialects. Some of the more interesting things are as follow.

Bride and groom to do this when staring into the mirror together
- jio gia jio gai, ka eh ho mia (look into the mirror, look into the mirror, then will get good life)

Tea lady to say when the bride and groom are eating sweet vermicilli
- jia di jia di, ma ni xi hao xi (eat sweet eat sweet, next year give birth to baby)

Tea lady to say when the bride and groom are drinking tea
- jia da jia da, ma ni xi lam pa (eat dry eat dry, next year give birth to boy) (this is a bit crude but that's what they say)

Think all these are very interesting but of course it can be a very time consuming affair to prepare all the necessary items, which might no longer be easily available. But somhow I think it is so important for us to know as much tradition and heritage as we can cox it does look like a lot will be lost from our generation onwards. It's really a great pity that a lot of these traditions are regarded as a hassle and slowly pushed into extinction as we have simply no time to bother about these things.

Perhaps someone should write a book on all these things so as the preserve this for prosperity. Maybe we call it "Dummy's guide to Chinese dialect customs" (I'll buy it!!) and also place a copy of it in the new monster library.

Oh, and did I mention, it costs about 100K to get married (assuming 5 rm HDB and hotel wedding dinner) The minimum is about 10K++. Not the cheapest affair. No wonder people are getting married later. Perhaps this also helps explain why many of the traditional stuff are being left out as well.

Lazy Sunday

*this was supposed to have gone up about 5 hours ago... but I forgot I saved it as draft so it just got released*

Today is one of those lazy sundays... when I actually have the time to think about how I am going to while away the next 6 hours before I have to go give tuition.

Getting my hands on the Prince of Tennis episodes I never finished, reading a few pages of Harry Potter Book 5 (by the way I have a spare, brand new copy of the adult version of Book 6 going for 40 bucks, let me know if anyone is interested), catching up with a current manga series that I had no time to read during pupilage (it's called Bleach ;p) ... hahaha.... and at the same time telling myself that I deserve the day off before going back to my books....

I have come to the conclusion that I have developed into a closet bummer. As in like - I have become a rather lazy person. That is a disgusting realisation. There were so many things that I used to want to do but never had the time coz I had to work. And now that there is so much time on my hands, I just bum around the house. Nothing ventured, and nothing gained.

I did so much more during hall days. I wonder where all that drive went. Maybe it is just that it has become too easy to hang around my room with the internet for company. Maybe I am just a whiner who complains about nothing.

Maybe...

I should just put on some running shoes and go out for a short jog.

grumpy and frumpy

i wanted to blog about my exciting trip on a sesimic survey vessel yesterday but then I am sleepy, tired and i just walked right into a "wall"...

till tomorrow then folks!

talk abt weird

and yesterday, as I was in my taxi, I decide to steal a glance at the people in the bus next to me and I saw an almost splitting image of me from the side profile.

Did not manage to see her full face, only the side,

and I felt so very strange, as if for that brief moment, I did not exist as me in the taxi but as the 'me' on the bus.

creepy...

...

I had dinner with a friend the other day and we started talking about job, future etc. As I heard her out, I realise that she was describing exactly how I had felt about a month or so about not being able to settle down for something and seeming to look for something more.

It was a miserable time I remembered, the pressure you gave yourself, the boredom of having too much time on your hand. What I recalled most about those moments was how alone you felt. That there must be no one else in the world who feel in this way and here someone was sitting in front of me with a steaming cup of earl grey and a nice warm piece of brownie, relating my same story. I find that it helps, when you know that you are not the only who felt this way...perhaps that is why it is said that misery loves company.

Anyhow, in turn I told her my story as well...I had hoped that it will help her in some small way to let her know that she is not alone.

A jam-packed day

Today I worked hard as usual and went for a virgin run in my work area. Guess the recent wave of healthy living has hit me and I am determined to get back in shape. So today I ran with some of my colleagues and guess what, I ran an astounding 4.4 km. That's a resounding cry from the last 2.4km I did that actually rendered me breathless and almost in pain. Hence, I am very proud to have covered this distance without stopping at all and within a decent time.

Then I went for my facial which didn't start off on a good note because they kept me waiting for 20 minutes when I was tired and hungry. Not a good idea. Thankfully, luck had it that I met this really sweet lady who talked to me about her travel adventure and I shared mine. She also gave the best massage as well and hence, I sure was a happy girl when I walked out. Oh and did I mention they served ginger tea... ooh.. nice.

The last good thing that happened was my sis and bf picked me up from AMK so I can get home a bit faster. Saved time for blogging!

Hence, today I feel healthy, pretty, relaxed and happy =)

Trains

I like trains, train station and train rides,
I love the way the train rocks so slightly as you peer outside at the passing green
I enjoy the moment when the train hiss into each station;
each bringing a new batch of strangers from their different lives and ushering out the familiar faces to the hands of their loved ones.

Strangely, for the predictability of train schedules, and the sureness of the railway tracks; each travel brings you a new expectation.

And this builds up as you near your destination...what fresh adventure will it bring you; what friends will it make you? What new things will it learn you?

this is gek, musing about everything and nothing

a quick post before I go for lunch

yea,

I am one gulity person for putting many messages on the Tagboard for these couple of days. Been so so tired that my brain clearly resembles a pile of mashed potato now (or so I imagine).

Okay I will repent...and for that I will not leave anymore messages on the TagBoard for this week... =P

Procrastination/PMS

To say the truth, I'm not sure how does one tell when you are getting PMS? There's so much written about girls and their infamous PMSes, I really wonder how it all works. Today I feel restless, moody and find great inertia in doing any constructive work, do you think that could be PMS?

Anyway, I find that when I want to procrastinate, there are a few things I would usually do. Firstly, I would check our blog. Then, i would go and read my fren's blogs. Then, I would check out their friendster's pictures and testimonial. Then, I would get slightly inspired to do more things with my life cox somehow I just don't seem to be maximising it. Then, on really I-feel-lousy days like today, I would read my own testimonial to remind myself that I'm very lucky to be loved by those who matter.

*****
*****
Memories

That reminds me of how reading cards with some mention of good times shared really make me smile. As there are so many things from my past that have already slipped my mind, it is such a wonderful feeling to have those memories come rushing back. I'm not sure why I forget things so easily. I guess it serves me well in cases when things are not so swell and I don't dwell on them for too long. Yet I find it extremely wasted when beautiful memories take their flight too. To put it in an extreme manner, sometimes I feel like a person with no history, with limited memories, with only memories of events that I have described over and over again (that's the only way I can remember).

Well, perhaps it's good too cox I not only forgive, I forget as well. But wouldn't that be dangerous because I won't be able to protect myself via the "once bitten twice shy" way?

No wonder I find the movie " 50 first dates" extremely charming and touching.

Alright, enough of ranting for today.

Tree Top Walk

As you all know, my frens and I decided to go on a tree-top walk to MacRitchie today. It was more like a long walk of around 7km (not too unlike our cross-country route before we reached the tree top walk part which lasted for about 250metre.That took us about 2.5 hours. We had to walk out for another 2km before we finally hailed a cab to bring us back to where we parked our cars.

The walk wasn't all too bad but tension was a tat high for one of my friends, incidentally the birthday girl, did not seem very happy. Till now, I'm still not sure the reason but I felt awful cox I was the one who suggested the walk and did all the organising. Perhaps it was because she din expect that it was only the 3 of us, or she thought we felt obliged to come cox it's her birthday when actually all were busy or because she wore slippers instead of shoes, or because she didn't like the idea to start with, or the walk was too long or she was simply tired and hungry... The list could go on.

Why is it so hard to organise an event that is not your usual dining and wining? Sigh. All I want to do is to make her birthday a bit more special but it did seem like a trip to Swensons might well do the job as well.

The only good thing that happened today was probably that we got a cab near the country club which probably saved us 2-3 more km of walking. I probably walked off 500 calories but put it all right back with the baked rice and ice cream cake I took after that.

Life sux.

Bad word of mouth

So, I see no one has taken on the challenge of writing about the horrible service we got at Indochine last night. To avoid immortalising the episode, let me sum it up in a nutshell.

Rude and arrogant staff who cannot be bothered to treat us with decency. Main reason I suspect was because we are not ang-mohs. It's one of those places where we as citizens of Singapore, born and bred here, are discriminated against and treated like second-class citizens. How atrocious. Not that I condone discrimination of any other kinds, but I'm just extremely irritated to be disciminated due to nationality, race or simply the perceived ability to throw money like water.

Thankfully, the bad service episode was salvaged by a delightful time at Fullerton Post Bar where martinis are delicious and chips are great. There, we tried to come up with witty lines of what life is like....think only Fishy managed some.

As I am writing this, my sis is helping me crimp my hair.... hope I dun end up looking like a frizzled and frazzled hag =p

Buying Time

Not sure if you have heard of the story of the boy who saved a sum of money hoping to buy an hour of his dad's time but anyway, I've got an alternate version here but no, mine is not so heart wrenching. It's merely painful for the pocket.

To escape from the coldness of my office, I decided that i shall fork out my own money and take a cab home. And to my horror, the fare came up to a horrendous $13.10 when the meter showed $7.80. So what caused that huge difference? See below for breakdown.
Basic: $7.80
CBD: $1
Peak Hour:$1
Booking Fee:$3.30

That is for working in an area where cabs won't turn in unless you make a booking. And for trying to go home before 8pm. No wonder no one has time to go home and make babies or cook for your family. All I was trying to do is to escape the dreary cold and to buy some blog time.

Definitely many things in life cannot be bought and some even priceless. However, today I recognise that money can indeed buy time.

Take a cab - buy some sleep time, buy some family time
Use SKII - buy some time so you will look like you are aging slower
Make an overseas call to your loved one - buy some precious communication time
Outsource household chores - buy some leisure time

**********
Side track
***************
Anyway, all the attacks of terrorism have left me saddened and to a certain extent more paranoid. You know paranoia has set in when the MRT slows down to a sudden stop and instead of thinking " What the..", you start to think " What if ..?"

While Singapore has been lucky to be safe from many natural disasters, yet when faced with terrorism, we are just like anyone else in the world - exposed. Fishy is perhaps right in saying that we can never stop terrorism, we can only cope with it and its aftermath as best as we can. And in this aspect, it's like your tsunami that's hard to predict. But what's important is that we can work together so that we are never lost and never terrorised.

I mourn the death of a few of my comrades

Today my eyelashes had their first brush with death.

(Even though I know that hairs are technically dead tissue, so they really can't die again, it is easier to think of them as alive while they are on my skin. It is infinitely more pleasant - and less morbid, than imagining myself carrying around heaps of black stringy dead tissues on my head, face, eyes, arms, legs, etc etc etc. EEW. ).

The salesgirl at the Loreal counter helped me put on some lengthening mascara- it was this white layer that extends the lashes, followed by the usual black layer. Call me a country bumpkin, but when I used my usual make-up remover on the lashes the mascara refused to relinquish its sticky grip on my beautiful hairs, and when I 'shampooed' them with as much remover as i dared, and brushed repeatedly along the lashes - my lashes came off on my fingers.

AAaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY EYES ARE BALDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a terrifying thought.

Wrinkly Wonky Wanked away his Weekend

This is a no brainer post from a no brainer fish who wishes to apologize for not having taken part in the WWW contest.

Too busy clearing up undone stuff in the last week of work. It's back to school for me!!! WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;p

More time for shopping, movies, and general bumming around. Joy to the world!!!!


lalalalalalallalala

Bridesmaid

I've never been a bridesmaid before. Hence, I was excited to hear that my friend might be geting married soon and being a close friend, I volunteered to be hers. While she had already received lots of self-recommendations, she said she would like me to be her bridesmaid cox her prerequisite is that her bridesmaids cannot be taller than her. Great! I'll have little competition then. *hee* I realised that for once my petite frame has served me well.

With more and more friends or colleagues around me getting married, I have started to observed more about how it is all done. I'm not sure if it's a national phenomenon or is it usual outside Singapore that people actually plan their housing and stuff way before the official proposal comes. Perhaps due to the unique structure of our housing system or the costliness of our housing , all this is necessary if you do not want to be caught without a nest after you have exchanged those sacred vows. Think I still prefer the good old fashion wow-me-with-an-out-of-the-world proposal before we even speak of anything else. Cox to me, to start planning for anything before the proposal, is like saying yes before you are even asked a question.

To counter the problems with our unique housing requirements and costs, perhaps every girl should be entitled to 2 proposals - the housing/engagement proposal and the official marriage proposal. If not, wow us with a marriage proposal with everything else planned such that we can get married the next day. How's that for a fairytale union?

To make up for all that lost time - Tales of Yoda

Yoda caught a bird that day! That was awfully surprising, given his slow reflex. Actually, he doesn't have any intention of killing the insects or birds he have caught. He just want to pursue them and "play" with them (often till death).

Heard from my father it was a smelly and dirty affair because the poor bird was so scared, it peed and shitted on the floor of my living room. Perhaps owing to shock, the bird was initially paralysed and couldnt get away from the claws of Yoda but eventually something must have told it that it must definitely fly away or it will "huo huo bei wan si". Hence, he flew away from a very disappointed predator.

The ironic thing is, given his predatory streak, he was in fact no more than a scaredy cat. This was evident this morning when he went into hiding after he saw an Indian worker do maintenance works outside our window.

And one thing I must confess, I did not know that female cats and dogs have periods too! And inf act there are surfing boards for them to use as well. So cute! At this point, I thought we are very lucky Yoda is a male if not we would have more things to clean up after him.

i believe in magic

i believe in magic... and that it is all around us.

Driving the car down the expressway with the accompliment of Buble's "Quando Quando Quando" - that's magic...
because of the way beautiful music seeps into your soul and being...
and u simply smile.

Being in love - that's magic...
because your heart seems to soar with every moment...
and u could not stop thinking of that someone else

Believing in love - that's magic...
because you open your soul and heart to God's miracle...
and your life becomes a blessing because you know you are capable to love; truly and wonderfully.

Great friends - that's magic...
because at the right moment in life you were all at the same place to have met one another...
and you know that is God has sent his angels to laugh, cry, share your life with you.

Life's like that

Just yesterday people were celebrating UK winning the bid to host the 2012 Olympics. Today you have explosions and chaos in the city.

Such is the fleeting nature of life.

whining & dining makes u fat

a good friend of mine used the above as her MSN nick...sigh does it mean I can't whine? cos I sure don't wanna be fat...

Just thinking that there must be a certain element of truth in what she said...shit no wonder my snaggy jeans' getting tighter...

no prizes for guessing this

One thing that makes me smile ...

when people call me j*** at work. Why? Cox it reminds me of how my close frens call me j**. So see, I smile when I feel your spiritual presence....

One thing that I'm sure of ....

2 months down the road I'll be a fatso cox I eat dinner at 10pm and dun have time... no...dun make time to exercise....

One thing I learnt today...

Keep smiling. You dunno how good it feels to see a sincere smile at work at the end of a long work day.

damsel with many personalities...hot

as if one damselfish is not enough, now there are gonna be five or six different fishes rolled into one...real scorching hot if u ask me...

how do we fully appreciate the others ard us?

Just like we try and live each day as if it was our last...maybe we should treat those dear to us as if it was their or our last days...what would we want to say to them; what will we wanna do with them?

Albeit morbid though

what a waste

I'm gonna be in a low-budget local MTV! Problem: No gorgeous male lead and no time!!!!

Laughter is the best medicine

Ever had the feeling of being so engrossed in doing something the whole day, and when you are finally done, you are so relieved that the first thing you remember to do is laugh?

Today, I finished what I was so engrossed in and when I was over and done with it, the first thing I did was to laugh, and I couldnt stop =)

Hey

A fren sent me this and it struck a chord with me. Hope you read it and come away with something too. =)

(Steve Jobs was the speaker at this year's commencement ceremony at Stanford. )

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky – I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me – I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Who Writes What (WWW)?

for a little fun and joy in our already totally upbeat blog... we are gonna have a little game....just to see how well we know each other's writing style.


Here's how it goes:

1. Everyone will make an entry under Damsel nick ( ask me for the user id and pw...actually it is in our first email from her inviting us to join the blog)

2. Then we will prob start off by saying that you are making this blog for the WWW game or something to that effect.

3. And then we will simply blog whatever we had wanted to for that day

4. next outing, (which is sat) we will tell one another who we think writes what...

Simple as that...

Have fun!

Alone Time

I am beginning to feel like I am getting a little compulsive with the blogging. This definitely feels a little like making up for lost time.

Well. It was a lucky break that I didn't need to work over the weekend (actually this is not entirely true... I'm just leaving some work due tom morning for later... oh well)

BF got summoned home for dinner, which leaves me with some much needed alone-with-myself time. Someone once told me that guys are usually the ones who need time alone. Even when gals wanna spend time away from their guys, they wanna spend it with other ppl - other girls, that is. And that GFs only go off to do their own thing when he needs some alone-time.

I don't agree. It doesn't apply to me, at least not all the time. Maybe it is the manner in which I am used to living my life - doing my own thing, hanging out with my friends, getting caught up in my own world reading my favourite books and comics (I am really looking forward to the next Harry Potter book coming out, btw... just a few days more.... woohoo!!!! hahah... but that is so beside the point).

Spending too much time with one person (I am thinking of the day-in, day-out kind)- even if it is the person you love, can be suffocating. It can make you lose sight of yourself, because you are always trying to make way for 2 people in your life. You may not want to do the same things, or not the same things at the same time, so you compromise. You don't realize it until you get a chance to step back and think. And that is the scary part.

Which is why I need my alone time. Which is why I need to meet up with my friends to remind myself that I still have a life as an independent, attractive individual in my own right.
Which is why I should be working it into my schedule.

I wonder if he feels the same way.

My Ten Items (finally)

Here's the list of 10 things that make me smile:

(1) Using my Bodyshop papaya shower gel (oh... I love those luxurious baths... used to have them all the time esp during exam times when I am in dire need of cheering up :P)

(2) Getting a card/letter written from the heart

(3) Remembering the times when Ed was still zhui1-ing me in JC (including reading the stuff he wrote and looking at the stuff he gave me :P)

(4) Walking home in the sunset, when the entire sky above and beyond is dyed in yellow and orange hues

(5) Drinking a nice glass of Snowball

(6) Lazing around on a Sunday afternoon with a good book/comic and coffee

(7) When friends surprise you with little things to show that they care

(8) Attacking bf's nipples when he is not looking (MWHAHAHAHAHAH... it always gives me a perverse sense of gratification to see him hide and squirm with a pout on his face... hee hee)

(9) Dancing (boy, this one gets me REALLY high - with no alcohol involved!)

(10) knowing that I have a bunch of friends to rely on nomatter what happens....

(10)(a) The happy hormones swimming in my body after a run

(10)(b) Feeling like I have all the time in the world

(10)(c) Knowing that a whole bunch of heads are turning to look when I walk into a joint with my 5 other fabulous friends (of course, I dun ACTUALLY smile. I just want to, badly. These are times that require extreme self-control, composure and nonchalence!! Think COOL my friends!!!!)



ok.... I have cheated enough with my er-hem, 10 things.... will put up another bunch of stuff when I think of more!!! :P

Everything changes

"Everything changes but you.... We're a thousand miles apart but you know I love you .." was one cheesy song lyric that came to mind after reading your entry fishy. And yet I have to agree with you - the only constant might well be change.

While there have been many changes in the environment, in my thinking, beliefs and attitudes, I'm thankful that the important things in my life have not changed. I'm thankful for my family's love, for my friendships and for my love for life.

Call me a romantic irony. As much as I am into romance, I am not quite convinced that there are many cases of happily ever after. Wise move to marry a down-to-earth guy instead of that love-at-first-sight crush to secure an everlasting fidelity? I'm not so sure. After all many people change after they get richer or more powerful. And I'm not sure if the lack of lust or fire in the marriage will keep the marriage alive for very long either.

Marry the MR Perfect who sweeps you off your feet and it could well be that his love for you changes faster than you can change your clothes.

Being a person with great expectations for almost everything, I find it impossible to simply settle for living in the present, I think I prefer living the present with the future in sight. And I do hope there's one more constant in my life when I get married.

A quote I like a lot about love and marriage.

" It never changes, when the groom lifts the veil, when the bride accepts the ring, the possiblities you see in their eyes, it's the same around the world. They truly believe their love and their marriage is going to break all the records." - 5 people you meet in heaven.

Today I Marry My Friend....

Hahaha... somehow I'm not surprised to find out that I'm a minority when it comes to choosing btw marrying a friend, or marrying because of love at first sight. We are a free-spirited, passionate bunch aren't we, after all?

What can I say? I agree with fishy ---- (to take her words OUT of context ...) "Marriage is sacred", she says, with that cheeky, so-full-of-herself-that-she's-gonna-overflow look on her face. hahaha :)

yeah...I'm traditional in that way, and I wanna get it right the first time round. I don't belive in finding out about the person AFTER marriage, neither do I believe in living for the moment to regret for the rest of my life if my first gut feel was wrong.

People are complex creatures. And boy, people can change. People can get bored, and people may act up under pressure. The person you knew and fell in love with may not be the person who can stay by you for the rest of your life.

Cynicism aside, I do harbour hopes for a once in a lifetime, passionate, and firey romance ala Meteor Garden, or Mr. and Mrs Smith (allow me to point you to the correct parts of the movie - they are the portions shot in Cuba and right at the END.......ahhahahahahahahah). BUT, if something good comes along.... why not grab it with both arms???

After all, love need not come to us in exactly the way we want it to. Before I end this post, I would just like to put down for the record (to the best of my memory) something really sweet that a groom said to his bride at their wedding (this is from a poem by an Irish poet):

Today I marry my friend,
whom I laugh with,
play with,
cry with,
cherish, and love...

I love my posse too!

What? We've only just become your soulmates? Tsk Tsk =p

But yeah, I guess it makes everything in life more bearable to know that you have a group of soulmates whom you can trust and count on to grow old together.

They are there to listen, to empathise and to lend a shoulder. Never to judge, yet ever-ready to give that lift, they are indeed heaven's precious gift to us. It also helps that we are united not only by our common love for life and also our differences in personalities and thinkings that made us totally unique and interesting (I hope) individuals.

Fishy's entry has helped made some things clearer for me. It have been subconscious but now it's clear to me that my bar was set since JC. There were times of bewilderedness when I felt that no one understood and I was all alone and there were also times when I wanted to do so many things but there doesn't seem to be anyone who was interested in doing the same things. Though it was not a problem adapting to the new environment cox I was still fortunate to be in the company of many good people, it was not easy making soulmatey friends as well cox the benchmark was already set that high.

Perhaps the reason why some people find it hard to find that ideal boyfren or husband is because they have been blessed with many good female soulmates. As a result, the bar is set so high that most guys can seldom qualify. Then again, it cannot be helped if we are funny and share lots of chemistry; we like guys; we like to dress up; we like to party; we like romance and adventures; we like to dream; and we like to engage in conversations ranging from the superficial to the profound.

how fragile life is

yesterday, I learnt how fragile life is. Even for us, in the prime of our life, we live moment from moment. Every breathe that we take is a blessing in itself, a gift from God.

Just want to tell all to treasure everything that we have and those around us.

Learn to forgive and to ask for forgiveness.
Learn to love wholeheartedly.
Learn to live for the moment.
Learn to be happy and contented yet not forgetting to dream. Learn to appreciate the people around u.
Learn to love and be loved.
Learn not to have expectations and live freely without demandig freedom.

embracing life

ever ever had the feeling that u just wanna give life a big fat hug..?

this is for a dear friend of mine...

Today, someone came into my mind...a dear friend, someone who has always been there for me no matter through ups and downs... someone I think has the biggest heart and unlimited kindness even though this person always felt that he is not as good as I make him out to be.

With this person, I never felt judged cos he accepts me for whoever I am or become ; whether I am being silly or in my philosophical mood talking about politically incorrect ideas: 'murder is not bad' (lets not go too deep into this =) ) I can say anything, everything - be anything, everything...

Platonic friendship like this is something I really treasure...

So this is just a blog dedicate to him and his generousity and his big heart... =)

more things i love abt this world we live in

Things that make me smile

1. putting my ears on someone's stomach when they are talking
2. giving sincere compliments to someone and seeing them smile
3. getting an unexpected call from people close to my heart
4. watching strange bugs go about their life (probably not cockroaches...haha)
5. dancing naked ...*grinz* and seeing others dance naked muahahah (disclamier: i only said the second part in jest...believe it or ... not)
6. peeling dried glue from my hands
7. yes watching Giselle dance puts a big smile on my face as well...cos she is so totally enjoying herself and being her great quirky self...(btw i think her dance moves are totally groovy)
8. my little sister
9. seeing people falling in love
10. chocolate chip cookies!

a little story from this book i am reading

There is this strange story from this book that I am reading now so I decided to blog it cos it amuses me so much and also it kinda inspired my previous post...

'According to [Plato], at the beginning of creation, men and women were not as they are now; there was just one being, who was rather short, with a body and a neck, but his head had two faces, looking at different directions, It was as if two creatures had been glued back to back, with two sets of sex organs, four legs and four arms.

The Greek gods, however, were jealous, because this creature with four arms could work harder, with its two faces, it was always vigilant and could not be taken by surpirse; and its four legs mant that it could stand or walk for long periods at a time without tiring. Even more dangerous was the fact that the creature had two different sets of sex organs and so needed no one else in order to continue reproducing.

Zeus, the supreme lord of Olympus, said:" I have a plan to make these mortals lose some of their strength."

And he cut the creature in two with a lightning bolt, thus creating man and woman. This greatly increased the population of the world, and, at the same time, disoriented and weakened its inhabitants, because now they had to search for their lost half and embrace it and in that embrace, regain their former strength, their ability to avoid betrayal and stamina to walk for long periods of time and to withstand hard work. That embrace in which the two bodies re-fuse to become one again is what we call sex.'

tomorrow...tomorrow...time ticks away

I once ordered a whole batch of books, for free because I could get another free book on Greek mythology ( the whole 'free' thing is quite complicated and there is a long story behind it - anyway I got a free atlas, history of the world book, Oxford Dictionary and of course my book of Greek myths) and two or three years down the road, I have not even so much as touched those books... all because ' i was too busy'

made me think long and hard on this commonly heard excuse of ' I am too busy right now not to do this... that...whatever it is' and I finally concluded that we are never just too busy to do anything and if we have really wanted to do it, we would have.

And sometimes, we become just too 'busy' for the people in our life - too busy to hold the hands of the one we love; to tell our moms that they are the greatest in the world; to sit down for dinner with our family; to talk philosophy with our dad; to kiss our dogs/cats (okay I cant imagine kissing yoda...can u do that damselfish?) and let them lick our hands; too busy to dream; too busy to go for walks by the beach or stay up to watch the sunrise...

Before one more year passes, I am gonna lay my hands ... and eyes on that book... =p


dolphin, send us 'chocolate' kisses from Zurich yah!!! Have fun and take care babe.